


Uno

by HopeStoryteller



Series: stay close (move fast) [2]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: (she has a very ironic name), Card Games, Female Runner Five, Gen, Names, Selectively Mute Runner Five, Team Bonding, Zombie Apocalypse, but like... after S1M7, sometime mid S1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24173134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeStoryteller/pseuds/HopeStoryteller
Summary: Runner Five really,reallyisn't sure how she got dragged into a game of Uno with some of the other runners. She's even less sure why she's enjoying it. The last thing she should be doing is getting attached, and yet... she's starting to like some of her fellow runners.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: stay close (move fast) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698457
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Uno

Her name is Runner Five, although she had another once. It was still her name in Mullins, but even then she hadn’t felt much of an attachment to it. Not anymore. After the apocalypse began, nothing really mattered anymore except survival. That’s part of what’s so different about Abel Township.

Her name is Runner Five, and she really, _really_ isn’t sure how she ended up in this situation.

“Uno.” Eight puts down her second-to-last card, a red skip.

Three groans, presses a hand to his chest in mock hurt. “Sara! I thought we were friends!”

“All is fair in love, war, and Uno. Didn’t you know?”

“Betrayal, I tell you. Betrayal!!”

“My turn,” Four cuts in. She slaps down a blue skip on top of Eight’s red, earning an audible groan from Ten. “You heard Sara, Chris. All’s fair.”

“It might be _fair_ , but it’s still _betrayal!_ You’re with me, aren’t you Chris? Chris??”

“You can’t possibly be with Simon.”

“Sorry Jody,” Ten shrugs helplessly. “I’d be a lot more likely to take your side if you hadn’t just betrayed me in cold blood.”

“It’s the _only card I can play!_ What else am I supposed to _do?_ ”

“And this is why I’m sitting between _you_ two.” Six gestures vaguely to Seven and Five. “At least I _know_ what to expect from _you_ , Evan.”

Seven, hand already hovering over a card in his hand, hums to himself and picks a different one. “I must be getting predictable, then. Better fix that.” He slaps down a blue 2, looks to Six, and raises an eyebrow.

“I take that back,” Six mutters. “The only thing predictable about _you_ is how you’ll always find a way to screw me over.”

“Maggie, my dear, I only know one person with a worse pokerface than you and it’s our good old radio operator Sam. You’ll have to do better than reverse psychology.”

Six sticks out her tongue and draws a card. Five catches a glimpse of red. Six has three cards left now, she’ll be a problem _soon_ but maybe if Five can get lucky...

Honestly, the absolute _last_ thing Five should be doing is getting invested in a game of Uno. And yet here she is, getting invested in a game of Uno with a bunch of other runners she barely knows and doesn’t even like. The major players here seem to be Seven, Eight, and Ten, that much is clear after only a few rounds. Eight’s in the lead with two wins, closely followed by Seven and Ten both with one, as well as—Five’s pretty sure this was entirely by accident—Three.

“Hey there, Five! Earth to Five!” Five glances up to meet Eight’s gaze. “You going anytime soon, or…?”

Five looks at her own cards. She’s got two left, a blue +2 and a wild +4.

She plays the blue +2 and says, “Uno.”

Eight doesn’t go. Nobody goes. Nobody says anything, and it takes Five an uncomfortably long time to realize that’s because they’re all staring. At her. 

“You can _talk?”_ Three bursts out.

Four immediately glares at him. “You can’t just _say_ that, Simon!”

“It’s a valid question! I didn’t know she could talk!”

“Well, _maybe_ ,” Eight draws two cards, makes a pleased noise, plays a blue reverse, “she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Why wouldn’t—okay, yeah, that’s fair, but still!”

Five plays her final card. And, funnily enough, nobody notices. Nobody except Six, who shoots her a betrayed look and starts to draw four cards.

“I’d pick red, but there’s not exactly a need anymore.” Five holds up her empty hands. Three and Four immediately groan. “And no, it’s nothing personal. I just… don’t like talking. That’s all.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” Ten says. He holds out his hands for the cards and says, “My turn to deal.”

Cards are passed in. Six _did_ have a red card, and Seven was arguably the closest to winning. Seven’s definitely looking her over a little more closely now, as is Eight.

“So, Five,” Four says eventually. “If you don’t mind me asking. Is there a… reason you only go by Five?”

Five shrugs. “Nobody asked. Also: zombie apocalypse.”

“We could all die at any time, couldn’t we?” Eight says in far too chipper a tone. “No sense getting attached, right?”

Five shrugs again. The cards are dealt, so she picks up hers as everyone else does. Blue 2 and 3, yellow 5, green 9, and a red +2. All in all, not a _terrible_ hand, but with a minimal amount of messing-with-others potential. At least she’ll be able to play no matter what comes for her. Assuming, of course, she doesn’t get skipped, or made to draw more cards.

They all play in silence for a while, mainly due to Eight _completely_ ruining the mood. Then, at last, Five plays her red +2, and Eight _groans._

“Ramona,” Five says before Eight—Sara, _fine_ —can protest. “Before Z-Day, my name was Ramona.”

“Well! Nice to meet you, Ramona, I’m Sara and I’m _going_ to get revenge on you for _that.”_

Five grins and flashes her a thumbs-up.

Three—Simon?—puts down a red reverse. “No hard feelings, Ramona m’dear. No hard feelings!”

“All the hard feelings.” Sara plays a blue reverse.

“That’s fair,” Five says. She watches, as does everyone else, as Simon plays _another_ reverse, this one green, and finally Sara plays a green +2.

She picks up a yellow reverse and +2, and looks to Six. She… doesn’t. actually. Know Six’s name.

“I’m Maggie,” Six offers with a smile. “I write sometimes. Except when these fools drag me out to play cards.”

Other runners offer names with their cards. Evan, Seven. Chris, Ten. Evan again. Chris again. Jody, Four. Simon and Sara and then Runner Five again.

Her name is Runner Five. But her name is also Ramona Fife, and she barely knows this group but she knows enough to know _someone_ (probably Simon) will comment on how ironic it is.

She’ll save that particular bombshell for the next game of Uno. Or maybe the next time she needs to distract certain people (Sara, Evan, Chris) so she can win. A new challenger approaches, after all, and she isn’t afraid to play dirty.

**Author's Note:**

> I got sad about some. things. in Season 2. so I wrote some nice fluffy runner bonding ft. Uno and poor Ramona with a name that could feasibly be mispronounced _as_ Runner Five. her last name especially. did I pick it for a reason? perhaps....
> 
> ~~seven runners chillin in the barracks playin Uno cause they're not straight~~


End file.
